I’ve covered De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) basketball coach Frank Allocco since he began coaching high school hoops in 1991. For the last 12 years, our family receives a Christmas poem penned by Allocco that he sends out every holiday season. MaxPreps asked him if he’d be interested in writing a daily blog from Chicago, where he and De La Salle assistants Brian Sullivan and Mark Noack will lead the West squad in the 37th Annual McDonald’s All American Game. The following are the first two days of Allocco’s journey from California to the Windy City. Look for daily entries the rest of the week.

Saturday, March 296:30 a.m. — Depart from Oakland airport. Traveling with Brian Sullivan and Mark Noack, two of my coaches from De La Salle, who will serve as my assistants for the McDonald’s All American Game.

Our flight is a working trip. We spend our time on the airplane reviewing a scouting report of both teams put together by Ray Costello, my student manager at De La Salle. We review various video highlights of our players that are available online. Wow.

This game features 24 of the top high school players in the country. Watching their highlights, it’s quite clear that this is an extremely talented and physical group. We’re excited to represent Northern California and De La Salle in this prestigious event.

Noon — We arrive at Midway Airport and are driven to the headquarters hotel, the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. We drove from the airport with Mikayla Cowling and Gabby Green from Saint Mary’s (Berkeley, Calif.). We joke that we had the Christian Brothers covered with our Bay Area representation. Mikayla, Gabby and Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) senior Mariya Moore will represent the West team in the girls game. Gabby and Mikayla will stay near home and play at Cal next fall. Lucky Cal.

7 a.m. — Bright and early, rise and shine. We start with a breakfast buffet for players and coaches. After that, we have photo head shots taken for the ESPN telecast. We join all the players and coaches for a 10 minute walk to the Ronald McDonald House. What a beautiful facility. It’s the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world and can house up to 85 families. Amazing.

At the house, the players and coaches have brunch and mingle with the children and families that are staying at the house. This puts it all into perspective. What an unbelievable experience. This is truly the real purpose for these games. Especially heartwarming to see these giants of young men coloring with children, reading to them, playing games and decorating cookies. The talent of the All Americans is only surpassed by their compassion. I’m already feeling bonded to these players. They are truly great young men!

2 p.m. — We get on the bus and head to the Quest Center, a basketball training facility in Chicago, where we conduct our practice. I’m very impressed with Stanley Johnson, the 6-foot-7 swingman who just flew in from California after leading Mater Dei (Santa Ana) to its fourth-straight state crown. I heard he had 25 points and eight assists. Not surprising. What is surprising is that he’s the first one to practice. Impressive. After competing against him at De La Salle in the 2011 state title game – and several other head-to-head battles – it’s finally nice to have him on my team!